Let's be honest, there are plenty of things the Ironheart series can be criticized for. But in this low effort post, I just want to talk a little about how ridiculous and contrived Riri's problems are in the show.

So, Riri has two core motivations that drive her decisions and actions throughout the series. First, she turns to crime because she needs money to finish her knock-off Iron Man suit, wanting to become “iconic” and also rich with it. Second, and more importantly, her real reason for creating the armor is to protect herself and her mother because of earlier trauma caused by a drive-by shooting that killed her father and best friend.

My issue is that she’s essentially already succeeded in these two goals, or is at least capable of achieving them without the suit, which makes her later decisions feel dumb or unnecessary.

Riri already created a watch that literally generates a protective shield around the wearer and even automatically stops bullets. And what does she do with it? She sells it to another MIT student, which leads to her getting kicked out for plagiarism.

That invention would’ve changed the world more and made it a way better place than any knock-off Iron Man armor ever could. And of course, it would’ve made her a zillionaire.

Just think about it: no more shooting victims, no more street muggings, and countless fatal accidents could be avoided with that kind of technology. It could save countless lives by drastically reducing violent crime or fixing safety issues. People would be living in the safest era in human history, all thanks to one invention that was tossed aside in favor of replicating a suit of armor someone else had already invented.

A good writer would immediately realize just how a powerful and significant mcguffin they put in Riri's hands. What basically solves all of her problems from the start. So they would make up some excuse or limitation to explain why it can’t do that. For example, the watch could be faulty and shut down after a few minutes. Or maybe it requires a rare material, such as vibranium jewelry gifted to her by the Wakandans. Or anything else, really.

But no, without any problem, she can just create multiple watches at home using limited resources for her mom and one other friend. What’s stopping her from creating more? What’s stopping her from selling the technology and getting filthy rich from the revenue?

And this is entirely on the writers. They introduced the watch, for some reason, but made it overly useful, simple to use, and way too easy to reproduce. That alone could have solved all of Riri's problems from the very beginning. But instead, the story has her fixated on building the armor because they have to, since the show is called Ironheart. So when Riri makes so many mistakes and bad decisions because of her Iron Man knock-off, she ends up looking like an idiot blinded by her own arrogance, completely ignoring the better solution she already had.

I suppose the exemple people in this sub gravitates the most when it comes to this trope is Avatar (TLOA), with the whole "last minute figure out Aang can remove bending" stuff.

Now, I won't defend that, mainly because I have only watched the first couple seasons of Avatar (and that was, like, decades ago), so I can't comment on how good or bad it was in context. However, I do like the trope it enbodies: when a character, confronted by two bad options, actually find a third one on their own.

I guess most people here see making "a dificult choice" as the more "mature" theme in a story, while having a character weezles their way out of having to make said choice is seen as a copout. And... yeah, I can understand that, real life is full of dificult choices, and we don't always have the luxury to wait and think about another one (that may also not be ideal, even). But fiction doesn't have to be realistic.

Moreover, the idea that a character may think of a third solution does provide themes of thinking outside the box, of not being blindsighted by what is in front of you (to the point of not considering alternatives), and of not giving up even in terrible circunstances. Maybe not the themes of "the world is shit and so is you" that people tend to associate with maturity, but still important themes to tackle.

I'm tired of it, and especially of reinstating the villain as a solution to the ensuing chaos. It's essentially as if good capitulated and actually wasn't strong enough to vanquish evil.

Do you guys know any examples where the power vacuum issue was dealt with in other ways than putting the villain back in charge? Preferably by annihilating all the candidates to take the villain's place?

There is a key difference between Legends and Disney when it comes to handling controversial lore.

Which is that Legends only used secondary canon materials which allowed for any controversial lore to be ignored or retconned later. (Books, comics, video games, encyclopedias)

The PT and TCW ignored Legends since they were primary canon materials in the form of films and tv shows.

While Disney on the other hand puts controversial lore in primary canon which are the films and tv shows.

Palpatine's resurrection was only in secondary canon material by Legends but never put in primary material like in EP 9.

Legends would've been privy to this same detraction if film and tv show adaptations had been made for it's novels and comics.

While Disney on the other hands has the resources and corporate ambition to have stories told through motion picture instead of only books.

Note: this is mostly about how the first game manages to handle the premise of the character

I want to preface this by saying that I absolutely adore Sonic as a franchise. The passion that I have for gaming began with Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which is honestly still my favourite game I've ever played, and that probably won't change any time soon. I have played all the mainline 2D-era games (despite them all being before my time, lol. Thank God for the Classic Collection on the DS), and had a really fun time when I played them as a kid, but looking back on the first game in particular, it's crazy how the franchise managed to kick off when its first entry is pretty bad as a Sonic game, and especially as the FIRST Sonic game

So, the principle behind the Sonic games is that they are platformers where you are running really fast. That is what the first game sets out to do and tries to establish. And it does a good establishing that with Green Hill Zone. The problem starts, well, immediately after that. Marble Zone is such a massive shift from Green Hill that it's funny. Like, it just completely drops the game's theme. Like, it even presents you with freedom to move during the first 20 seconds of the level, then the second you go underground, it slams the brakes and kills the pacing. This just makes this level a fairly basic platformer (and the platforming itself isn't even that good)

Then there's Spring Yard Zone, which, in return for giving you much more space than Marble Zone ever even tried to, introduces pinball mechanics that can be pretty annoying at times, but I'm still much fonder of this level than the previous one, as it was much more faithful to the game's original premise—a game where you can jump around while moving pretty fast...and then Labyrinth Zone happened

I will be so honest, this post exists almost purely because of this stage and Marble Zone. The other stages after Green Hill aren't as bad, they just never get back to that level. To say that this level completely abandons the original premise of the game and the character—a character who moves really fast—is a massive understatement. This level is so bad, so slow, so mind-numbing, so against the premise of the character, that it's shaped the perception of water levels across the entire franchise. Mind you, just within the classic games, Aquatic Ruin and Hydrocity Zone are easily amongst the best levels in their respective games. What made them think that making a game that's about a guy that moves really fast and having a level that moves agonisingly slow was a good idea? And then, just when you finally think you're done with Labyrinth Zone, Scrap Brain Zone Act 3 comes in and says: "SURPRISE!!! I'm actually Labyrinth Zone Act 4!"

Of course, we all know why it succeeded: it was a brand-new idea that people liked the concept of, as well as Green Hill Zone doing a good job of selling both the idea and the character. I just still find it fascinating that they managed to do so considering that a good half of the game doesn't even deliver on its premise at all. Not surprised. Just fascinated

captain marvel should of had a phase 1 or early phase 2 movie to help set up the cosmic side of marvel instead they gave her a rushed movie that exist to set up 3 other things

In action genres that is, and alright they're not that tiny.

Although some of them will eventually transform into something more threatening.

Final Fantasy 8 - Ultimecia

Fate/Grand Order – Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia - Tiamat

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - Unknown

Metal Gear Solid 3 - The Boss

Tell me your favourites.

The Brooklyn Bridge. The twin towers. Several characters that have Brooklyn accents. Sounds like a cartoon that definitely takes place in Brooklyn, right?

Well you would be wrong because this is a city that canonically exists in Washington state.

I learned this recently upon discovering this meme featuring the longest running cartoons set in each state. I don't see how Recess takes place in Arkansas but Hey Arnold confused me the most. I thought, surely this must be a mistake. I looked it up, and sure enough, the creator grew up in Washington and he based the fictional setting of Hey Arnold, Hillwood, on a combination of Seattle, Portland, and Brooklyn.

"What's the big deal? It's pretend he can do whatever he wants?" It's not against the law to have a cartoon take place in Washington where people have Brooklyn accents, but it makes no god damn sense. You might as well have a city in Alberta Canada that takes inspiration from Miami. Or have it take place in Los Angeles but all the characters have Texan accents and the statue of liberty is in the background.

I don't like the various franchises that try to combine American cities with Tokyo or whatever either. Stop trying to over-pander to Americans and just have it take place in Asia for real. I'm not saying the concept of a combined city is INHERENTLY a bad idea but off the top of my head I can't think of any decent examples.

Side rant: Hey Arnold is just overall an overrated cartoon that millennials glaze because we didn't have a lot of entertainment options at the time. A lot of the conflict revolved around Helga, an angry girl who bullied Arnold but was secretly in love with him. This is an awful trope in any series but in this one it's especially obnoxious. Helga is presented as a sympathetic because she's so insecure and sad but does that really excuse behavior like trying to murder a parrot or get her nanny fired and deported for no reason? It's all in the name of "love" so it's fine I guess? Except the nanny thing had nothing to do with Arnold, she was just mad about an authority figure telling her what to do so she framed the nanny for stealing. Helga just overall treats everyone badly and so much of the series is centered on her.

TW: Genocide

Star trek is a franchise about the future.

Specifically, a post-scarcity future revolving around Starfleet and the Federation.

The basic premise is that humans have founded a unified coalition of planets and nations, spreading human values of peace, prosperity and acceptance across the galaxy. This is the Federation

Obviously, there are cultures that aren't as progressive as humanity. Cultures who seek to erode federation values, this necessitates Starfleet, an earth-based and human-controlled military faction within the Federation.

For my first point, Authorial Intent is important here.

Star trek has gone through a lot of authors, but the eternal intent is that the federation is good. Sometime's it's space-NATO, sometimes it's space-UN, sometimes it's space-USA. But it's always been what those groups should aspire to be. A beacon of hope. (at least that's the intent)

We see it with Picard (both the show and the captain) being hyper-patriotic for the missions of peace and science. with Star Trek: Enterprise demonstrating how separate cultures came together to found the federation. with Star Trek: The Original Series being about human homesteading and a peaceful end to the space cold war.

And then the cracks begin to show, starting with the Augment Ban.

In Star Trek's human history, augmented humans led a series of bloody wars and atrocities. The natural human instinct was to ban all genetic modification. This carried on to the federation, any culture that wants to join the federation has to ban genetic modification.

Multiple species have canonically performed mass genetic augmentation without becoming tyrants, but they aren't permitted into the "beacon of hope." Because Starfleet is still mad about something humans did to each other. Curing a health condition using alien tech is considered sciencecrime, but only if that alien tech is genetic modification. This isn't even from the cynical shows, this is established in Strange New Worlds. and Enterprise which are both full of "starfleet awesome, federation awesome."

And then Star Trek: Picard comes around, and drives another nail into the coffin of "The Federation is free"

Star Trek: Picard starts with a terrorist attack being perpetrated by robots. Therefore a decision is made to ban robots. Creation of robots is forbidden, any research that involves them is forbidden (including, canonically, life-saving cybernetics) and any existing robot has to be executed.

These aren't even "robot arm and computer" robots. The ban specifically requests the "disassembly" of Asimov-style thinking machines, across the whole of the federation.

The ban is repealed fourteen years later, after which an unknown number of sapient beings have been taken apart for the sake of a human law. An entire type of person is declared illegal, even though the attack had nothing to do with the perpetrators being robotic.

That's two different data points of the federation declaring people's existence a crime. Which is textbook fascism. Star trek portrays the robot ban as a mistake, true, but you can't just say "whoopsy, we mandated genocide. Our bad."

It gets worse. Because of a concept that modern Star Trek loves:

Section 31.

Section 31 is Starfleet's martial law. A group of people who can declare "interstellar emergency." and get a pardon for anything, up to and including attempting to destroy planets. People operating under section 31 have no oversite, even from Starfleet Intelligence (starfleet's spy agency). While at the same time recieving cutting-edge tech beyond what Starfleet gives its flagship vessels.

Starfleet has managed to "solve" multiple political problems by taking a rabid group of spies and ordering them to commit atrocities. They're willing to cover up those spy's actions and very existence, even after section 31 attempts a coup on earth's government.

So the Federation is willing to ban life-saving medicine, criminalize people's existence, and fund a fascist secret police that even they can't control. All for the sake of a sick HFY attitude, that the spread of human values are worth debasing everything that humanity is supposed to mean.

So this is partly a rant about The Emperor and partly a rant about the wider 40K fanbase.

Warhammer 40K has a reputation as being the war game for fascist weirdos. It is not a fully accurate reputation, but it is entirely earned (regardless of how many flaccid social media posts GW put out). A lot of this is because of the Emperor, and the way both 40K's lore and the wider fanbase keep trying to justify his actions.

Whenever discussion about the Emperor comes up you will inevitably get at least one person (usually many) say something along the lines of "yeah he did some bad stuff but he's doing it because he wants whats best for humanity." People jump at the fucking bit to go on about how every horrific act he does is just because he loves mankind and wants to lead them into a brighter future.

No he doesn't. The Emperor does not love mankind. He just loves the idea of controlling it. He's a narcissistic abusive dad with a god complex the size of the Golden Throne. It doesn't matter how many times the lore goes on about his deep love for humanity, actions always speak louder than words. So lets look at The Emperor and his actions.

First, the unification of earth. In lore The Emperor has superhuman charisma, and could easily use diplomacy to bring the disparate human nations of earth together under a single banner. So what does he do? He creates an army of genetically enhanced super soldiers to murder anyone who doesn't bend the knee and conquers the entire world with force (then he murders them because he just didn't want to deal with them after the fact). He could have tried to unite earth through peaceful means, but that might mean having to make concessions, arbitrate conflicts, or even make compromises on his vision for mankind. Doing any of that would have just been too much bother, so he decides to murder his way to power instead and commit an atrocious act of cultural genocide.

Then the Great Crusade happened. The unification of humanity on a galactic scale. Once again, the supposedly "humanity loving" Emperor murders untold billions of humans who refuse to join the growing imperium (and untold trillions of aliens but no one is arguing that the Emperor isn't racist). Yes, technically its the primarchs/space marines doing the murdering but its all on his orders. Any planet that didn't submit to the emperor's rule was brought in through force if not outright destroyed. The most egregious examples of this being the Interex and Diasporex. Two thriving human civilizations who were completely obliterated because of their refusal to adopt the imperium's xenophobia and turn on their alien allies. Sure, he didn't necessarily directly order them destroyed, but he did orchestrate the conditions in which the space marines would have no choice but to destroy them. The Great Crusade continues on like this until the Horus Heresy. I won;t hold anything that happens in the Heresy against The Emperor.

So, where is the so called love for humanity? The Emperor's doctrine is one of demands for obedience under threat of immediate and violent retribution. Love isn't ownership or control. Love means having respect, compassion, and empathy for another. it means recognizing someone's autonomy and perspective, even if those things might not align with your own. The Emperor does not treat humanity like that. He demands complete subservience and if he doesn't get it he kills you. A man who loved humanity wouldn't have wiped out thousands of years of human culture and history. A man who loved humanity wouldn't have allowed two thriving and successful human civilizations be wiped from existence. A man who loved humanity wouldn't have killed so much of it.

Now, I don't think the emperor effectively being an abusive dad is a bad thing. I like that in concept. I feel like the actual writing GW puts out tries to justify his actions too much, but thats not the biggest issue. The biggest issue is that the fan base of 40K fucking bends over backwards to try and justify the emperor.

The biggest arguments I've seen for this is that the emperor didn't want to do all of these horrible things it was just the only thing that would allow mankind to create a chaos-proof society and he also feels bad about them.

1. It didn't fucking work, humanity is a breeding ground for chaos and most of it is because of the conditions that the Emperor directly caused.

2. Him feeling guilty doesn't absolve him of his sins. Plenty of real life abusers feel guilty after they beat their wives into unconsciousness, but they still fucking did it.

Whatever the argument a large portion of the 40K fanbase as a whole is unwilling to admit the the Emperor's actions were wrong and his motivations did not justify them. This is the reason why a lot of the 40K community sucks and in ways that range from annoying to malicious. For one, the Emperor being incredibly racist and also according to the community correct has invited many actual racists into the fandom. Aside from that any attempt at discourse about the alein factions in 40K have at least a 50/50 chance of summoning the most annoying people in the world to start shitting out their tired memes about how aliens are bad and should all be killed (looking at you Black Templar fans). It also makes any attempt at real discourse about the imperium a clarion call for people to post their favorite "yes commissar this post right here" reaction images.

The Emperor of Mankind is at best a controlling abuser and at worst a fucking psycopath, and people twist themselves into knots trying to say that he isn't. And people being so willing to try and defend the Emperor's actions and ideology is the reason why I can;t tell people I like Warhammer without being given the side eye half the time. Its perfectly fine to like the Emperor and the imperium. They;re very compelling. But for a fanbase that constantly waffles on about how there are no good guys a lot of ink gets spilled trying to paint the emperor as one.

Edit: Ok I’ve seen a few people mention “well the Emperor loves the idea of humanity he just doesn’t care about individual humans” and I want to make it clear this the exact argument I’m saying is wrong. What does loving the “idea” of humanity mean? The idea of humans existing? Cuz he certainly made a lot of humans not exist. The idea of human civilization succeeding? Once again I point to the Interex and Diasporex. At best he loves his idea of humanity, but that’s not the same as actually loving humanity itself.

John is excommunicado. He runs around NY.

The taxi driver is an assassin. The librarian is an assassin. The hobo is an assassin. The cleaner is an assassin. The assassin is an assassin.

The first John Wick created this mystique around this secretive world of assassins. But the later sequels ruined it for me. While it was cool, it made no sense.

Okay so in Anbennar lore, Kobolds tend to worship and revere dragons. This is especially true for the Kobolds under the Dragon coast who used to be under Tayekan the Blue and would gladly fight and die by his name. Tayekan the Blue is one of my favorite characters in the lore bc he's absolutely hilarious while being surprisingly chill for a dragon as powerful and ancient he is, but his 1000 IQ plan is hilariously convoluted and does the kobolds under him so dirty that it deserves some slander, So I'm here to explain why this guy is the ultimate deadbeat and gnome larper.

So first off, Gnomes originally owned the surface of the dragon coast and Tayekan lived in the mountains, casually running science experiments on his kobolds. The thing is, the first Gnomism Hierarchy was also a scientific technocracy, and Tayekan absolutely LOVES science, so the two would have gotten along famously had they known each other. But sadly, Tayekan only came out of his dragon goon cave bc another dragon cast a magical spell that drove all the dragons berserk for while, which cause Tayekan to burst out of the mountain and go on a rampage. Now he stopped pretty much as soon as he got a hold of himself, but the big problem is that his rampage also released the kobolds, and they thought Tayekan's telling them to go to the surface and wipe out the gnomes in his name, so they did that. Now this is no way Tayekan's fault, but it's a life long regret of his especially since he realized he missed out on the shorty science bros and now both the gnomes and kobolds want to kill each other. What he does next is what really makes him wacky.

Ok so in the canonical timeline, Tayekan decides the best way to repair gnomish/kobolds is to transform into a gnome, secretly rise in the ranks to become the leader of their remaining society, and then lead them to reconquer the dragon coast. Once that's done, he spares the kobolds and then fakes him own death so it looks like the gnome he's larping as died of old age. Afterwards, he leads another new world expedition and forms the Triarchy, a place where gnomes, kobolds and goblins work together in harmony and advance science, as well as the Gommo, the guild of artificers basically leading technological advancement in the new age, before fucking faking his own death again so he could continue his gnome larping and guide his society without being discovered.

Now this is bad enough, but the Kobold timeline is where he really gets his reputation of being a deadbeat. So kobolds beat the gnomes, he STILL doesn't show up but leaves cryptic clues telling the kobolds that they should become more like gnomes and do cool science and artificery. So they do that and spare the gnomes. He still doesn't return. Kobolds colonize the new world and accidentally find a dragon willing to be their daddy, he's still not back. Only once the kobolds accidentally cause a volcano to erupt and wipe out most of their empire along with half the continent does he realize he fucked up, came back with the milk and helps the kobolds fix their shit.

To his credit, once Tayekan finally comes back with the milk, he's actually a pretty decent dad. He's pretty chill, tries to guide Kobolds to a better society, and helps them with artificery. Unlike the other dragon he actually fully believes they can become dragons and fully believe in their potential, being like if these guy get good enough with artificery they'll become no different from us, which is incredibly based. He hilariously still wishes Kobolds were more like gnomes. When a kobold priest told him that they're using artificery to become more like dragons and worship them, he was like that's fucking cringe, you should be doing it for science's sake and learning new things.

Tayekan ultimately isn't really evil or power hungry, but he's cautious to an extreme fault and basically never uses his true dragon form for anything. Both the gnomish hierarchy and the triarchy become world powers thanks to this guy, and he still refuses to show his face, and is STILL LARPING as a gnome to this day bc he'd rather chill and do science than run a country. He also never answered any of his kobold children's calls until they ended fucking over the continent so bad that even he had to self reflect and start parenting.

TL:DR; Tayekan is a funny guy. He's probably one of the most powerful dragons around, being an old as fuck ancient dragon, and all he does is gnome larp and avoid his kids.

I'm saying it's a hot take because I know very well just how much people despise this trope and rant about it every time they see this in any media. With the common consensus about it being "The villain is such a god damn idiot! Why would you kill your own allies ?!" Or "Such a cheap way to show how Evil the villain is" or "they only do this so the Protagonists don't have to kill the villains". It feels as if people just hate this trope period and don't want to see this in any story whatsoever. Which is why what I'm going to say is a hot take because I'm going to go against the majority and say this:

No. It's not a bad trope at all. And can actually work and make sense in the right context and if the writing is good.

I'm not even saying that you should make the bad guy that gets killed by the villain a traitor or anything. There is absolutely a way to have your villain kill a subordinate who is loyal and still make it make sense. There are plenty of ways to do that and it can be for many reasons. Such as a demonstration of how insane/mentally unhinged the villain is. Or, you know, even better, it could be because the subordinate was genuinely an incompetent buffoon who did nothing but waste the time and resources of the villain and had to go. Both of these reasons imo are good enough to justify the villain killing his subordinate. And could even add some interesting characterization to the villain.

The writers can even get creative about it too and add some rules for the villain where he will help his subordinates as long as they are competent and good at their job. But when they end up being incompetent and do more harm than good in spite of all the chances the villain gives them, he will turn his back and abandon them for dead or will kill them themselves. It adds some good characterization for the villain because it shows that they are willing to cut out those allies who are completely useless to them.

One of my favorite examples of this trope done well is from The Clone Wars S5, The Onderon Arc:

The premise of The Onderon arc is that the Planet Onderon and its people are under Separatist captivity, the previous noble and fair king of Onderon, Dendup, has been overthrown and put into jail, and a new king called Sanjay Rash has taken his place. It's also quickly revealed that Rash is closely in contact with Count Dooku and often contacts him for advice over what to do. Making Rash little more than a puppet king for Dooku to reign over Onderon.

However there is also a Rebellion that is going on in Onderon against Rash's Separatist government, led by Saw Gerrera and his sister, Steela Gerrera. With the entirety of the people of Onderon also in support of the Rebellion and even the Jedi Order and Republic appearing to give aid to the Rebellion by sending them supplies but not interfering directly.

The Rebellion is successful for the most part. And here it is revealed just how much of an incompetent, weak and pathetic loser Rash is. He completely fails to stop the Rebellion in any capacity. Doesn't even try to earn some favors from the people of Onderon or to convince them to support him over the Rebellion. The story in that arc makes it clear that Rash is such a worthless loser and such a joke of a king that he is literally nothing without Dooku's support and the Droids that he has. Literally all that he did in an attempt to stop the Rebellion was to try to publicly execute King Dendup, the previous king, because of his suspicions that Dendup is responsible for the Rebellion even though that's impossible because Dendup was locked in a cell with no contact with the outside world. And he failed at even that, because the Rebellion stopped him before he could carry out the execution. And the other thing he did was to run to Dooku for help and beg him to "Lord Dooku! Please! Send me more Droids! I'm running out of forces here!"

And the most funny part is that Dooku is extremely patient with Rash too. Constantly sends him more armies of Droids. Even sends in a Super Tactical Droid tasked with strategizing and leading the attacks on the Rebellion because Rash lacks any and all military genius.

And when the Rebellion finally wins the war, Rash is shown pleading with Dooku to send him another Droid Army. But this time, Dooku refuses and after determining that their chances of victory are incredibly low, he orders the Super Tactical Droid to gather any remnants of the Droid Army that are still left on Onderon and leave the Planet and go back to the Separatist hideouts. Rash is confused by this and when he tries to ask Dooku what's going on, Dooku gestures towards the Super Tactical Droid and the Super Tactical Droid shoots and kills Rash.

And honestly. I liked that scene. I liked that Dooku finally got fed up of Rash's bullshit and had him executed for his failures. Because Rash deserved it. Rash was genuinely an incompetent piece of shit who couldn't accomplish anything in spite of all the Droids and support Dooku sent his way. All he did was waste the resources the Separatist had in a desperate attempt to stop the Rebellion to no avail. And I'm glad Dooku finally decided he isn't going to waste any more Droids and resources on Rash and had him executed. It makes sense. It's a fitting end for Rash. To die pathetically like he did. I Don't see the execution for this trope as "Dooku killed him because he failed" but "Dooku killed him because he was an incompetent, useless asshole and Dooku didn't want to waste any more resources on him by bending the knee to his pleads"

Here. This trope is well executed and I don't have any complaints. So not all uses of this trope are bad and it can be executed well.

Half the cast are legitimate nutjobs who escaped from the Asylum to participate. 6 or so characters want revenge and get it with spicy flavour: revenge through plane propeller, revenge through being dinner, revenge through vodoo magic. The Warthog driver is psycho whose wish is to have empathy be removed from his brain, so that he can be a perfect killer. Good people like Agent Stone or John Doe get screwed over in their wishes. Everything looks like it was written by an edgy 14 year old. Because it was actually written by Sweet Tooth himself

Man, I think I cut myself on the edge just by thinking about it.

Btw RBF means what you think it is (resting beautiful face). And also Sarcastic is not the right word here. But basically a male character who acts like Raven from Teen Titans. That's what I'm getting at here. I'm sure deadpan is the right time here. I could be wrong though.

For example.

I usually don't watch Teen Dramas, because of cringe (cough cough 13 Reasons Why).

But I saw the Living with the Walter Brothers show on Netflix. No spoilers here. But I found one scene very funny and interesting. The mean character Jackie upset one of the Brothers, due to the mom paying more attention to her. So later on in that episode Jackie ask him "how was your day". And his response was "it was good until this conversation" and he leaves.

It's rare that you see male characters with this type of personality. Maybe a male character acting like this may come off as rude to the audience. Especially if it's towards a female character.

It's not that I'm not enjoying Sakamoto but when I started the show, I was cool with Taro specifically being the ultra peak human badass. They built it up pretty well too since he's explicitly the bext assassin ever and his body was honed to perfection.

The last arc with the killers was where I first started to notice but as it goes on, more and more characters can do the same insane shit he can do with less and less explanation. Everyone's super strong, everyone can flash step, even the tiny girls with no muscle definition. Mr. Takamura gets a pass because at least he uses a sword and that's kinda different from pure fisticuffs, it makes him stand out. Anyone with an actual gimmick they keep too is alroght but most of the other assassins are reaching that Syndrome Level where everyone is special and thus no one is. I hope we get more variety in the future or at least that the "power levels" even out soon.

Another thing is, the word "assassin" has certain connotations so it's getting a little muddy when the show is slowly turning into The X-men.

So recently a clip of the new P&S episode went viral on twitter with people calling it "japanese hazbin hotel" at first it was just jokes, the typical "x if it was written by vivzypop" but then I actually started seeing people say that P&S was just like hazbin hotel except its japanese so it doesnt get as much hate, you know the typical "thing/japanese thing" memes and shit like that (completly disregarding that swearing was a big part of that episode and there is a reason the characters are talking like that). Now I understand why people would think that since the clip in question was a song in which the chorus was literally "FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK, BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT CUNT CUNT CUNT" so yea I get it if that was your first reaction to seeing the clip out of context but please stop spreading hate about a show you didnt even watch all because of a clearly out of context clip, because these shows are NOT the same and as someone that DESPISES the japan glaze and weeb culture as a whole (I have only watched like 2 animes and will get in a fight with anyone that tells me watching subbed is better) I can say the reason P&Ss use of crude humor is loved and Hazbins is hated, is not because of P&S being japanese (I mean there might be some die hard anime glazers that actually just like P&Ss humor because of that but they are in no way the majority so lets just ignore them).

The first diference between these shows is that P&S is a PARODY of western, mostly american, humor (think shows like family guy, south park or even hazbin hotel itself) which means the show will exagerate on the stuff americans steryotypically find funny, mostly swear words and sex jokes,

now if parodying something this way makes it funny is another discussion entirely and does not have anything to do with the point Im trying to make.

The other and most important reason these show dont get treated the same way is because this style of humor doesnt work with a serious show like hazbin hotel, if you have a show that tries to be profound and have deep character dynamics and a message about genocide that style of show does not pair well with toilet humor. As I saw someone say: the word "fucklenugget" IS funny and it works perfectly in a purely (or mostly) comedy driven show but if you say fucklenugget after a tragic scene that is suposed to be taken seriously then that kinda ruins the scene don't you think, having a humor that is mostly swear words and sex jokes doesnt work with a serious show, and thats the diference, P&S is everything BUT a serious show, it is purely episodic, there is no continuation apart from new characters getting introduced, episodes are fast paced and 11 minutes the world goes from ending to completely back to normal in, no joke, 20 seconds, there is no message, the plot of the episode doesnt matter it is there soley so that the characters can have funny interactions, it does not take itself seriously in the slightest and crude humor works with a show like this and doesnt take away from the experience.

In the meantime some people have used the same points Im using here over on twitter and to that some people responded saying that it doesnt matter because they dont finds swears funny either way, those people did not get the point, I am not saying that P&S is better because it doesnt take itself seriously and I am not saying P&S is funny because it doesnt take itself seriously I dont really think overusing swears is funny as well (part of the reason I like P&S season 2 more than season 1 is because they toned down on the excessive swearing and sex jokes in favor of actual jokes) what Im saying is that P&S isnt LIKE hazbin hotel, comparing the two just because they have similar senses of humor isnt really fair beacause a joke can work great in some instances and poorly in others.

Let me clarify that its okay to not think P&S is funny even tho it doesnt take itself seriously what Im saying is that, NO I am not a hypocrite for beliving that crude humor makes hazbin hotel worse but doesnt worsen P&S at all

TLDR: Panty and Stockings use of crude humor isnt hated like hazbins is because P&S is a parody and doesnt take itself seriously, and comparing the 2 isnt fair.

Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story is a toy based on an action hero from outer space. He with a sleek design, tons of features, and a very cool persona, quickly outshining Woody in popularity for a while.

The one major flaw he had was that he genuinely believed that he was that action hero, and this hubris made him a huge issue for the rest of Andy's toys, as he was always on the verge of blowing their cover. However, once he realized he was a toy, he became more humble, and lost that flaw.

I'm pretty sure the writers realized that without buzz acting like a "spaceman" half the time, he was a toy that was extremely competent, a born leader, and an amazing planner. He was essentially as good or even better than Woody. So for the next 2 sequels they somehow shoehorned a "spaceman" Buzz into the story.

In Toy Story 2 a newer Buzz traps him and masquerades himself as Andy's Buzz, inconveniencing the toys again. However, this instance is not as bad as it is relatively brief and just shows how Buzz has evolved as a character.

In Toy Story 3 it's not only done again, but even worse this time. The regular buzz is only present during like the first quarter of the story, then he literally gets his character development reversed by Lotso and his gang while he and the rest of Andy's toys are stuck in their daycare/prison and somehow turns him into an antagonist for the time being. He then turns into a Spanish guy and only goes back to normal in the climax of the story.

In Toy Story 4 the writers realized that instead of somehow getting another pre-character arc Buzz for the majority of the movie, they can just completely butcher his character instead. He acts like a stumbling buffoon during the entire movie. He apparently does not know how to lead and sneak around, despite him coming up with stealth tactics and giving Optimus Prime level speeches in toy story 2. Even in 3 he still assumes the role of leader in Woody's absence and almost got away with sneaking around if it wasn't for the fact that Lotso's gang controlled the cameras.

I feel that since Buzz is just a fully realized character, it gets hard to have him really involved in the plot. His inclusion makes the plot trivial and kind of overshadows the other cast, namely Woody and Jessie. I wonder what they are gonna do for Toy Story 5 (How did we even get to 5??) because they cannot keep Buzz as his normal self without the plot ceasing to exist apparently

Inspired by this video essay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Bgj1-0qO8

Do Rotten Tomatoes and Box Office Scores even matter anymore for film analysis? Like does a general score or low return on money indicate low quality?

After Streaming and CO-VID, I’d surprise that films performing below expectations don’t have an asterisk beside the reports with a “Not accounting of the still ongoing PLAGUE affecting theaters turn outs.”

Plus, we all know that the whole “failed to meet expectations” stuff is a buuuuuuullshit statement made by cowardly executives who worship shareholders at the altar.

Like I wanna know: what film do you love to bits despite how it underperformance financially?

Do view the video I linked above for a fuller picture of what I'm getting at.

Too many rants on the internet- not just here, (actually, upon further reflection, it's quite a low concentration on this subreddit- at least, in comparison to to other places these days at least, so uh "We Did It Reddit!" I suppose.) can be summed up with "I watched/read something in a genre I didn't like and it sucks" or "I hate the very premise of the show but didn't even glance at the elevator pitch/deliberately went into it knowing I hate the premise and I'm upset." or even "I'm not the Target Demographic, and the fact I even know of the story existing is a statistical anomaly, now let me tell you how it should change to better suit my tastes."

Why the fuck are we hatewatching in 2025 when everyone already know engagement boosts content in the algorithm? Stop it! Do literally almost anything else!

This isn't fucking Youtube they are on most of the time so they aren't even making money! You are not earning money from Random posts on the internet here here- what you need to do if you want to do that is make scary stories about strange rules on r/nosleep and shill your paetron.

And the amount of "subtweeting" style rants I've fucking seen is ridiculous, some person will say "If you think that's bad, the characters also do [thing]" and they don't mention the fucking title, because it's called something like "Characters do [thing] (Dead Dove Do Not Eat): The series." because they know people will be like "why did you watch that series if you don't like [thing]"

And if it was just them going over stuff they didn't like in the start of the series or the latest installments, maybe I could get it, but then I start getting a fucking play-by-play of shit deep in the weeds of story, and they're not even enjoying riffing on it like in MST3K, and I'm just like- why do you know this? Why did you continue reading?? Were you forced at gunpoint??? Do I need to call the police????

I started to read an isekai the other day, and when I had an inkling it was heading towards an unironic childhood friend X Bully with more obviously better cheat skill NTR plot, and therefore, unfun edgeshit (as opposed to fun edgeshit- see Madness Combat for the latter) I didn't read on, I put my reading on hold, searched it up to see if it actually was heading towards that, and it was! Apparently, the protagonist doesn't just kill her and the bully, but their goddamn children as well- and he was genuinely useless in the new world and not even in an actual relationship with her either. So then I dropped that shit like a 3 day old turd, and I'm a happier person for that!

"But u/skunkbrains, don't you risk spoiling yourself for good twists and stuff like that?"

Well, sort of- but it's risk assessment! The amount of mental stress I would accumulate from reading stuff too foul for even my fucked up tastes is more pressing than the potential loss of enjoyment from getting a proper twisty enjoyment out of the story.

In short, for the love of god, consume more shit you actually like.

I'm thinking of characters like Malleus Draconia, Hotohori, or even Frieren if she counts.

Idk if Alucard from Castlevania counts💔 or even Reinhard Van Astrea (although I don't think his core motivation is primarily seeking connection and overcoming isolation) I like it when they survive, it feels a lot more satisfying to me.. So, does anyone have more examples?

When I watched L.A. Confidential movie, I couldn't help but feel that Lynn and Exley had this incredible chemistry than what she had with Bud. The way they looked at each other throughout the film made it seem like there were real feelings brewing between them. I’ve never seen her gaze at Bud like that; it was something else entirely when her eyes met Exley’s at the end during their goodbye.

Do you think by the end of the movie, Lynn had developed some feelings for Exley? And maybe he felt something for her too, especially after that night they spent together.

What do you think would have happened if Lynn had met Ed before Bud on Christmas Eve? Do you think she would have fallen for him? And what if Exley had been in Bud's shoes during their first encounter?

Were the things Lynn said to Ed while trying to charm him actually true?

Who do you all ship? I can’t help but imagine that after she gets to Arizona and finds out she’s pregnant, it could be Exley’s baby. Just a thought, haha!

I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions on all of this!

He always disrespects and belittles riley's genius computer skills all because Riley cant name every historical event from 17th century ever. Ben would have never been able to steal the declaration of independance without his help . Riley always stayed loyal to Ben in both the movies but the latter couldnt be bothered to even read his book.

No idea why Riley is even shown to be single tbh, he is smart , good looking , funny , loyal, kind and well rich . The movies really do him dirty.

Its honestly a mess.

1.They unnecesarily deviated from source material. Why is Kang the Final Boss if he was a jobber in first Secret Wars and irrelevant in the Second?

1. Marvel Studios haven't understand what made 2015s Secret Wars great(Closure to Reed and Doom rivalry and closure to the Marvel Universe that started with F4). This live action Secret Wars is in spirit like first 80s Secret Wars but with no novelty. Just put these characters all together with weak plot.

If they did. A Doom proyect would have been developed alongside F4. And yes. Doom is less developed than Infinity Saga Thanos. In first Avenger movie is set Thanos is the final boss. He sent Loki for the teseract. With GoG movies we got two characters closely related to him. With Avengers 2 reveal Captain America(Teseract), Avengers(Teseract), Thor 2(ether) and GoG finally takes shape into Infinity War Saga. We got NOTHING. NOTHING OF DOOM.

1. Odd creative choice driven by real life drama: Ok Kang is the final boss. But why dont send off Kang properly or recast? Better towill kill the plot offscreen and put a Final Boss with no set up unless theres a relation between Iron Man and Doom.

2. Didnt get one of the reasons why Infinity Saga was great: Avengers had proper build up. In this Multiverse Saga the team that grew the closest to OG Avengers are The Thunderbolts and Sam(alone). Out of Eternals, Moonknight etc. Only those. Not even F4. But they aint producing leads like Steve, Thor or Tony despite they got more proyects to do so.

3. Using Foxmen is at it is because they realized NWH did money with cameo fest. So now Marvel Studios wants its piece of cake too. Specially after the success of D&W. Because otherwise it would be a conflict between Thunderbolts+Sam, Eternals, F4, Loki and What If characters.

So hear me out a lot of fans really like how complex and compelling the show is whenever it comes to its well written complex characters as well as having a great story but detractors criticize this show for being misery porn really too much in being cynical so why is that the case of this anime being so divisive?